FabFurnish aims to become an end-to-end home and interiors solution provider

The change comes two months after founding members Vikram Chopra and Mehul Agrawal quit to make way for senior director Ankita Dabas to take over as its chief executive.Payal Ganguly | ET Bureau | September 07, 2015, 07:48 IST

Keep furniture away from monsoon woesOnline furniture and furnishing retailer FabFurnish has redone its business model as it aims to become a provider of the entire range of design services to shoppers who want to give a fresh look to their homes.

Moving away from its image of an online furniture retailer, the Rocket Internet-backed company is repositioning itself as an end-to-end home and interiors solution provider — a strategy which is being followed by players such as online furniture brand Urban Ladder and design and decor platforms Liv-Space and HomeLane for better margins.

While 50 employees were let go in the past two months, there have been 15 new hires across marketing, content and design verticals, even as it plans to close the year with .`500-crore revenue. “We have also made some key hires from the design community, including interior designer Aprajita Suri Davar and senior creative director Tanuj Ahuja. We will soon be filling up key positions of chief technology officer and marketing manager,” said Dabas.

Also, from its focus on pushing private labels, the company is changing its strategy to become a merchandiser of products. “We work with vendors and brands and want to become a merchandiser by increasing our catalogue. We are talking to premium brands in India and abroad, as well as multiproduct brands,” said Dabas.

While the new FabFurnish interface allows users to visualise different looks for their home and then choose the right one, she said it will enter the market for customised offerings only by the end of 2015. It plans to also add interior designer on-call service around the same time. “We are into everything to do with home and interiors and partner with interior designers.

A move to providing curated products increases the average selling price as users tend to buy a basket of products,” said Dabas, adding that the new strategy will increase its margin by about 5%, while reducing the cost of customer acquisition.

While private labels can fetch a margin of up to 50% in the online furniture segment, marketplaces that offer various brands typically make a margin of 15-25%, depending on the category.

Last year, FabFurnish indicated plans to raise $50 million from existing investors Rocket Internet and Kinnevik to fund expansion.

There have been reports indicating the merger of global home décor companies in the Rocket portfolio — such as European players Westwing, Home 24, Australia based Zanui and FabFurnish — to create a global player.